Telling the stories of overlooked subjects

Art Students League of Denver welcomes Natalia Roberts as second BIPOC resident artist

BY BRUCE GOLDBERG SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

e multitalented Natalia Roberts is about halfway through her Visiting Artist of Color Residency conducted by the Art Students League of Denver.

Roberts brought a wealth of talent to the position: performer, choreographer, lmmaker, photographer and teacher. And she also studied architecture.

rough her work, Roberts “aims to tell the stories of those who are often overlooked, and let these overlooked subjects know that their beauty, physicality and potential are seen,” states a news release.

e ASLD opened in 1987, with artists teaching 100 students that rst year and pushing them to reach their potential. Today, the league operates from the Sherman School at 200 Grant St. in the Speer/West Washington Park area. More than 14,000 students attend its classes, workshops, teen studios and summer camps.

ASLD’s Visiting Artist Series got started in 2003. e BIPOC focus was added in 2021 with Kevin Snipes, a ceramicist who wants to combat the inequity of opportunities for artists of color and thereby enrich the Denver arts scene.

“We started this residency as an acknowledgement geared to BIPOC, starting with the idea that the art world is harder to access because of racism,” said Tessa Crisman, communications manager at ASLD. “So we wanted to make this program to provide resources to artists who might be given those resources, and to connect our community and di erent voices than those that teach every day.”

Roberts is the second person to ll the position. She is originally from Detroit and was living in San Francisco when she learned about the Denver residency, which includes housing and nancial support.

“I was a little hesitant because I didn’t know anything about Denver or the Denver art scene,” she said. But “I was particularly attracted to this organization because I had been working as a professional dancer in New York City.”

An injury halted her dancing for about eight months. She found a New York organization that was similar to ASLD and took classes in photography subjects such as